Extremely Slow Modem

My brother just got a new computer (PII, 64M ram, Win98) and uses AOL to connect to the web. When connecting, AOL reports that it has connected at 56k. However, whenever I try to download anything, the download transfer rate is rarely higher than 5 kbits/sec. Yes, 5 k!!! I also used a progrsm (DU Meter) to monitor the port and it verified the rate. What gives? Is something set wrong?

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Between 5 and 5.3k per second is normal for a 56k modem for downloads. There are alot of variables that come into play when you are downloading information off the internet most of them related to bandwidth. What I mean by that is that when you connect to somewhere on the internet through a dialup connection you are totally at the mercy of the telephone co. equipment. For inststance if you live in a remote area of the US then you probably are connected with old copper core phone lines where as if you are close to a city you will be connected through fiber optic lines.

This is just one of many variables that can come into play. For a demonstration of what im talking about find a IP address for someplace on the internet like 206.230.102.9 go to the dos prompt after you connect and type tracert 206.230.102.9 and this shows how much telco equipment you modem is having to go through to get information from this server. each line that is printed out is called a hop each hop causes lag so obviously the more hops the longer it takes to download.

Anyway like I said if you have a 28.8 modem you will download at about 2.2K/sec and with a 56k modem you will download 5.3 or so. I know this sounds stupid but its the truth, and it is all kind of misleading.

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thanks a lot ... i've always been used to high speed connections at school and at work. i've never actually had to use a modem until now (to telnet into my account). it's pretty horrendous when i have to wait hours to download Netscape, not to mention the random disconnections

i'm never going to complain about the "slow" speed of my Ultra10 at school anymore :)